1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shipping and displaying goods in general, and more particularly to a shipping container convertible into a display stand while keeping the shipped goods therein for display.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are already known various constructions and configurations of shipping containers, among them such that are equipped for eventual use as display containers for displaying the goods shipped therein after the container has reached its destination, such as a retail store. One example of a shipping container of this kind is disclosed in a commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,476. The shipping container depicted there includes a tray-shaped receptacle that actually receives the goods to be initially shipped and eventually displayed, not only during storage and shipping, but also during the display, as well as a base or stand structure that is fixedly connected to the tray-shaped receptacle, is collapsed and/or folded against the receptacle prior to, during and after the shipping, and is unfolded or erected when the container is to be used for displaying the goods.
As advantageous as this arrangement may be in some respects or for some purposes, it also has certain drawbacks that make it difficult or impossible to use it under certain circumstances, especially when the goods contained in the receptacle are individually or cumulatively quite heavy. More particularly, in this shipping arrangement, the receptacle maintains the base structure in its collapsed condition. This means that the receptacle must be lifted, despite its often considerable weight, before the base structure is free to unfold into its erected position. Now, experience has shown that, even when measures are taken to bring about automatic unfolding of the base structure once released, the unfolding process is not always successful or complete, be it because some parts of the base structure interfere with each other's relative movements, because the biasing means that urges the base structure to its erected position is partly or fully ineffective for some reason, or because of improper handling of the shipping container by the store personnel during the erection process that may cause frictional retention of certain parts of the base structure due to contact thereof with the store floor or the like. The main cause of the latter situation is often the very weight of the full shipping container which may cause the store personnel to fail to lift the receptacle sufficiently, or even at least temporarily lose balance.
Of course, if it were attempted to support the receptacle on such incompletely erected base structure, the latter might buckle or collapse under the weight of the full container, or the entire assembly may topple, with attendant damage to the goods and/or injury to the personnel or any store patrons who may be nearby either during the erection process, or even later should the personnel fail to notice the incomplete unfolding before leaving.
In view of such undesirable consequences, it is imperative that the person putting the goods on display make sure that the base structure is completely unfolded before lowering the receptacle. This typically means that the strain stemming from having to handle the rather heavy full receptacle is further aggravated by having to either jiggle or otherwise manipulate or maneuver the heavy receptacle to free any stuck parts of the base structure for continued movement to their erected positions, or precariously hold the receptacle in such a manner as to free one hand and use the latter to manually perform or complete the movement of the affected base structure parts to their erected positions. In either event, such operation is rather cumbersome and involves a considerable amount of physical stress on the part of, and/or increased danger of injury to, the involved personnel.
Similar convertible display stand arrangements are also known from the U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,536 and from the French Patent No. 84 04211. Yet, even the arrangements disclosed in these patents possess the same or similar disadvantages as discussed above, and do not lend themselves to being erected without the store personnel incurring substantial physical effort in the process.